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Introductory there

July 4, 2010 -

In English, existence is usually indicated by the structure there + to be. There is actually an adverb of place, but the introductory there has no adverbial sense. It is merely used to introduce the sentence.

There are two people in the room. (More natural than ‘Two people are in the room’.)

There is a bridge over the river.

There have been many such rumors.

There is a hole in my tights.There was a lot of noise in the street.

There is no denying the fact that he stole the watch.

Note that in the last sentence we use a peculiar structure – no + gerund, which indicates impossibility.

There is no denying…= It is impossible to deny…

With plural subjects we use there are.

There were many accidents last year.

Note that there is is also common before plural subjects in informal speech.

There is some apples in the fridge. OR There are some apples in the fridge.

Introductory there can also be used with some intransitive verbs.

There seems to be a problem.

There came a knock at the door.

There happened to be no on near to save the boy.

There grew a warm friendship between the two.

There spread a rumor that he had been killed.

Note that introductory there is not used in a sentence if there is a definite subject.